The 5 May 2011 was an historic day for the rights of lesbians and gay men in Brazil. The country's supreme court ruled unanimously that partnerships between same-sex couples must be recognised as being equal in every legal aspect to partnerships between unmarried heterosexual couples. Prior to the ruling some, but not all, public notaries would register a document stating that the couple lived together. Such documents did not, however, have guaranteed legal value, were subject to interpretation and could be disregarded. Same-sex couples could also take their claim to court, requiring legal recognition of their partnerships. For the most part, such cases were judged by the civil courts and not the family courts, and were regarded as a business partnership – only protecting assets, rather than a relationship of love and affection, with its ensuing rights and obligations.

All notaries are now obliged to register, when requested, same-sex partnerships as a legally recognised "family entity", just as they do with heterosexual couples. This opens the way for a series of rights previously denied to same-sex couples in Brazil, such as joint adoption of children, inheritance, the consideration of both partners' income when applying for loans or mortgages or the right for one partner to take decisions regarding the other's medical treatment in cases of incapacity. The ruling also brings obligations that did not previously exist for same-sex couples in the event of separation.

The matter was taken to the supreme court by the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro in 2008, after its recognition of the same-sex partners of state government civil servants as dependants was challenged at the local level. The federal government's attorney general's office added weight to the battle in 2009, by filing a claim that the failure to recognise same-sex partnerships in Brazil was unconstitutional. Last Thursday's ruling found in favour of both cases.

The executive branch of the federal government has also made considerable progress in implanting affirmative policies for the LGBT population, starting with the Brazil Without Homophobia programme in 2004. In 2008, the president convened the first national LGBT conference, preceded by LGBT conferences in all 27 of the country's states. The conference's recommendations were systematised into the national plan to promote LGBT citizenship and human rights, launched in 2009. Also in 2009, the federal government created an LGBT department within the structure of its human rights secretariat. More recently, in March this year, the national LGBT council was created, having 15 governmental and 15 non-governmental members. The council's role is to guide and assist in the formulation of public policies for the LGBT population and to act as a "watchdog" over their implementation.

Different to its counterparts, however, the legislative branch at federal level leaves a lot to be desired. Since the country adopted its new constitution in 1988, the national congress has not approved a single bill on LGBT matters. A bill proposing the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships has been waiting to be voted on since 1995.

Nonetheless, the progress that has been made has coincided with the growth and strengthening of the LGBT movement in Brazil. In the early 1990s, there were fewer than 20 LGBT organisations nationwide. Today, there are over 300. Before 1995, there were no LGBT pride marches. Today there are over 270. In recent years the São Paulo LGBT pride march has attracted more than 3 million participants. Increased visibility, political organisation and influence have been essential for the advances achieved.

But much still needs to be done to improve tolerance of sexual diversity. A large national Unesco survey in secondary schools in 2004 found that 40% of male students would not like to study in the same classroom as an LGBT student, and 35% of parents shared the same restriction. More recent surveys have confirmed this data. There are no official national statistics on homophobic violence, but NGO monitoring of media crime pages shows that on average one LGBT person is murdered every two days in Brazil because of their sexuality. Although this figure must be considered proportionately to the overall high number of murders nationwide, it is nevertheless alarming and unacceptable.

Other priorities on the agenda of the LGBT movement in Brazil, yet to be conquered, include a law to prohibit and punish homophobic discrimination and a law allowing transgender persons to change their forenames in keeping with their gender identity. We hope that the example given by the supreme court last week will spur the national congress into taking action.